Plant-based delights
Beginning to eat a plant-based diet might seem daunting at first. How will you get enough protein?
How will you find the time to prepare complicated meat-free meals? And where will you source the special ingredients?
The good news is that eating a vegan diet needn’t mean lots of extra time and effort on your part.
This collection of recipes aims to offer simple and nutritious recipes for dishes you’ll want to make again and again.
From lasagne to curry, pancakes to panna cotta, there is an easy plantbased recipe here that will satisfy your appetite and take you on voyage of vegan food discovery.
Cheesecake & Sweet Cherries
Achieving that cloying, deeply creamy goodness of a cheesecake without dairy takes some work.
There are a number of ways you can get excellent results using cashews or silken tofu, but for a cheesecake that no one will know is dairy free, the Tofutti brand of dairyfree cream cheese is the answer.
Made from soy and nonhydrogenated vegetable oils, it is identical to normal cream cheese in taste and texture, especially in this glorious dessert.
Infredients
500g fresh cherries, pitted 4 Tbsp agave syrup
Base
150g/1 cup pecans
150g Scottish oatcakes 80g/51⁄2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp agave syrup
Good pinch of sea salt Filling
900g Cream Cheese Grated zest of 5 lemons and juice of 1
130g/3⁄4 cup xylitol
5 eggs
1 Tbsp rice flour
2 tsp pure vanilla extract Pinch of sea salt
20-cm springform pan, lined with baking parchment
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C, Gas 4.
To make the base, roast the pecans on a baking sheet in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until they have gone a shade darker. Allow to cool slightly and leave the oven on.
Melt the coconut oil in a pan over the lowest heat possible — this will only take a few moments. Crush the oatcakes and roasted pecans in a food processor or in a sealed bag with a rolling pin, then transfer to a bowl with the melted coconut oil, agave syrup and salt and mix very well. Press into the baking pan so that you have an even and smooth base for the cheesecake.
To make the filling, put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until well combined. Pour the mixture onto the set cheesecake base and smooth out the top.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until it is just set and the middle is still a little wobbly. It will set further as it cools.
Once completely cold, pop the cheesecake out of the baking pan and peel off the paper.
To serve, squash the cherries a little between your hands to release some of the juices.
Add the agave syrup and mix together.
Just before serving, pour onto the middle of the cheesecake and serve big wedges with the cherry liquid seeping down the sides.
Serves 10-12